Business with the u. S. Government agencies. Starting with breaking news out of libya this hour with the internationally recognized government has pulled out of ceasefire talks in geneva on the same day warlord Khalifa Haftar forces attacked a port in tripoli the government of national called say the attacks on civilians showed after is not serious about working towards a resolution at least 3 people were killed in wednesdays attacks tripolis port so important its a gateway for food fuel and all sorts of imports for the country and libyas National Oil Company announces there will be major disruption to schools hospitals and power stations half his forces say the target of the shelling was an arms ship believed to be the 1st such attack in this offensive the city has been under attack by half his forces since april and now all fuel vessels have been ordered to leave for safer waters as we said the attacks came on the go between the sides had been on the way in geneva the tripoli government insists though the u. N. Mediated meetings cannot continue until the worlds takes a clear stand when he. Saying clear stand on have to violations as he says ok heres the team covering the story for us at the moment mahmoud up the 100 in tripoli will come to you shortly i want to start with james bays in geneva absolutely no surprise ideas james that the government of National Court has decided to pull out of the talks does that mean the talks are dead in the water completely. It seems so for now but the u. N. I think will be trying to do damage them notation and try and resurrect things the moment that they were sitting down for the start of the 2nd round of whats called the joint military commission thats 5 representatives of the tripoli government and 5 from the force of general half the that is exactly when the rockets at attacks on the port of tripoli were taking place and the whole point of these military talks is to try to get a juror will cease fire trying to convert a truce that often feels like a truce only in ne into a last thing ceasefire and clearly if thats going on while you are having those talks then you would obviously doubt whether the talks were in good faith and to leave that has been the position of the government of National Accord d deciding for now to pull out of these cease fire talks the u. N. Has responded the u. N. Mission to libya un smil that people who are here in geneva running the talks process and put out a statement in the last few minutes weve been officially notified by the government of National Accord of the decision to suspend participation in the ongoing talks in geneva following the deplorable attack on tripolis seaport very strong words there from the u. N. They always use very measured language and the u. N. Is describing what happened today in tripoli is deplorable the statement goes on well reiterate says call that all parties especially the Libyan National army to desist from escalation and provocation as exercising maximum restraint in refraining from targeting civilians of vital infrastructure crucial to the progress and success of the 3 he track intra libyan donald and that is what theyre trying to do here not just the cease fire talks there was something much bigger in the pipeline for next week and that was the 1st part of the political track of these talks rather. 5 aside as we have now 5 of the jna 5 from have thought that we many more representatives here representing all different political. Parties and complexities of the libyan political system coming here for wider talks the plan of course of the u. N. Eventually is to try and have elections in libya but what weve seen again and this is clearly what we saw back in april on the very day that the u. N. Secretary general was getting libya and he just met general haftar and we see that again now as these talks were restarting his general highest afters or dayshift military action is once again up ended things scott back to the language you referred to the u. N. Used the word deplorable which is strong given human standards the g. N. A. S. Says they want a clear stand from the International Community wants a clear stand in this case. Well i think they want to denunciation all of whats gen half the is doing they feel that they came here in good faith to discuss this to discuss pace and he was waging war on the day that they were discussing peace remember that this process is not just the u. N. Process remember that we have other bodies invested in this d i was in munich just a couple of days ago where Foreign Ministers from 13 Different Countries including some of the top supporters of general haftar countries like the u. A. E. And egypt and russia were all saying that this process should go ahead remember that last week i was in new york last thursday when the u. N. Security Council Passed finally a resolution again supporting this process so the International Community is supposedly some of the some might say that some of their only giving lip service but they are behind this this effort and i suspect the government of National Accord now want them to speak out very strongly against general hafta for railing for now this effort thank you james pace in geneva. Ahead as we said he is in tripoli where all of this is happened weve got a lot of information from james about the timing of this attack tell us about how it actually happened and the importance of hitting the pause. Well. First of all the 1st reaction to this attack as james has just noted that the government. Notified the United Nations support the mission in libya that its suspending its parts. In the talks in geneva the government says that it cannot continue in any peace talks with. The capital is under attack the state Facilities Division that is the initial areas and also the port which is the government describes as the lifeline not only for people in the capital city but all libyans because this is the main and major port in the capital city and then you see that the state oil firm has declared that it has just moved and evacuated all tankers that are loaded with fuel and gas in the port in order to prevent humanitarian and invented environmental disaster due to the multiple attacks by half to the forces on the port on tuesday now were getting reports just about now that random rockets are landing in residential areas name the in bruce lee neighborhood deaths in the city center remember that the government of National Accord has been routed rating that have to his forces have been violating the cease fire by targeting it is additional areas 8 facilities and also the only operational airport in the city of tripoli made airport over the past few weeks despite the International Calls for adhering to the. Fire also were getting news from the Health Ministry saying that 3 civilians were killed and 5 other. As wanted in these attacks on the poor to buy have to us forces on tuesday so as you know that the government is now pulling out or suspending its ports and the military track as you know that by virtue of but a lean commendations there are 3 major tracks including in terms of the peace talks the political track the economic track and the militarist track the method to track that word. Military commissions from both sides 5 military commanders from the d. N. A. And 5 others with have to have been meeting including on tuesday in geneva so youre saying the government to say that its our objecting on the multiple attacks by have to his forces now does mahmoud are the one whod gloated from tripoli thank you. More now with james more in a in an associate Senior Research fellow at the center for european policy studies previously served as a European Union ambassador to libya as well as egypt and jordan hes on skype from brussels and we do appreciate your time i said this to james byrds our correspondent i dont know if you heard but i mean theres no surprise that the gene a has decided to do this what is interesting again is that Khalifa Haftar is chosen a critical u. N. Juncture moment just as he did when i was there back in april to talk later the whole thing. Yes hes defeated doing it on a number of occasions of course so we also saw in moscow couple of months ago when the g n a has signed the cease fire agreement pulled away from it even though it was sponsored by one of his main backers that is that russia his. Record as a man of peace has got to be in doubt of the moment and one would very much hope that there will be condemnation from all sides of this attack today coming from the International Community including the European Union which i think must now be a little bit more robust pushing back against this sort of thing especially after the bar and misses the e. U. Yesterday of decided at the political level anyway now to move on with this idea are all trying to please the u. N. Arms embargo. Do you think Khalifa Haftar has ever been really genuine about the idea of quote unquote peace talks i mean he he goes with this title of war disease called by some he has been attacking tripoli since april with the sole goal of taking over here as a forceful man wonder really if the idea of peace talks comes into it. Well it only comes naturally to him hes a military man by a background of Source Intelligence circles as well. As a politician somebody whos interested in making any kind of compromise that only becomes easy to him and its not going to happen anytime soon unless some very clear signals are given to him and his forces that this is not the way there is no military solution here this has become something of a cliche but having lived sometimes myself back there last year couple of times its very very clear to anyone who knows anything about this country there is absolutely no military way out continues to leave this it seems. Is a dead end street so what can or should the quote unquote International Community do here because. Anyone who has got an interest in libya they have taken sides already their arms being supplied on both sides while the government of National Accord wants this stance from the International Community is that even possible. Well theres a couple of things as i said person foremost there should be wide of the widest possible combination of the attack today which lies in the because of the ongoing you know the inverses of your correspondents that pointed out just not that and i think also the e. U. Is is on the right track in terms of trying to do more to police that u. N. Arms and barbara now i know at the moment this is problematic for the d. N. A. Now because they feel that its not going to be effective so long as concentrating on only the sea lanes with less emphasis on the land and the air space where much of the weaponry of course but after is coming and theyre working on it i dont know art of the you are in the meeting yesterday but i think it will be important that everything is done that can be done on the european side and possibly together with others perhaps an entire which was involved in the original intervention in 2000 and everything is that it can be done and. A properly balanced policing of the u. N. Arms and barber to tone down the the very hard working and excellent hasnt salami and his u. N. Team. In the center of that james i know its getting out there in brussels so we really do appreciate your time thanks for joining us on the news hour so a pleasure. Lets have a look at what else is coming up on this news are declared the winner of afghanistans disputed president ial election but the opposition is calling it a coup against democracy also were in canada where escalating protests against the pipeline are causing nationwide disruption in sport the strain open champion loses her 1st w. T. F. To a match following a trial and. Were moving on to syria where the u. N. Says nearly 300 civilians have been killed in the northwest since the beginning of the year as the government tries to capture the last rebel strongholds. Of the. United nations says schools hospitals camps for the internally displaced theyve all been hit and says the russian backed government offensive is quote beyond belief of call for the immediate creation of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to escape the sheer quantity of attacks on these hospitals medical facilities schools. Which suggests to me they cant all be accidental. And at a minimum even if they were accidental it shows lack of proportionality necessity caution and so on. All of which can contribute to something being an attribute if theres a war crime its cruel beyond belief that civilians mostly women and children living under scraps of plastic sheeting in freezing conditions are being bombed. Reports now on the plight of those displaced by these attacks he is on the turkish syrian border. But is one of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced syrians she fled her village of a woman in the east of where it was taken over by Government Forces the building is unfinished and the family has little for nature cannot afford to buy a stove to heat the place. And we pray someone will defend us please help us to kill our children they target cause schools we cannot send our children to schools anymore they are bombing the area nonstop its insane as Government Forces close in football has already backed the tractor outside hes ready if the situation gets worse. I have seen hopeless faces crying out of fear and humiliation i am asking the arabs in the muslims where are you why are you silent come here and see the women and children living in the open people are on the run they leave it live hoping for a better place. And his family have just arrived from the outer nor man the rebel stronghold south of. The city was a cup church by the syrian army 2 weeks ago a shelling and flared up many civilians escaped the army on one day we counted 400 rockets fired at the city in addition to airstrikes many were killed we fled under the cover of darkness it was so chaotic many were looking for loved ones who theyd lost track of during the escape this is how northern italy and the outskirts of aleppo look like. Long lines of syrians piled on tracks their destination is the border with turkey they join hundreds of thousands of people who have gathered in small areas and empty fields hope. To cross into turkey if Syrian Government troops continue their advance the battle for it live might turn into the worst confrontation since the start of the conflict 9 years ago the syrian army is determined the burbles must surrender but they are defiant civilians have nowhere to go and if it falls into the hands of the government theyre likely to pay a price the millions who live in the province who are stranded near the border with turkey will have to abandon the dream theyve carried for many years a syria without bashar assad has. Delivered as a win turkeys border with syria in afghanistan ashraf ghani has won another term as president after being declared the winner of last septembers disputed election the results have been delayed for months tutor attacks polling stations allegations of rigging and technical problems this report from chance. Since september afghanistans Election Commission has been sifting complaints and contested votes trying to work out whether ashraf ghani has the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff he does its finally announced but only just but that she has said i had to open it according to the constitution we declared mr ashraf ghani who recovered 923592 votes which is equal to 50. 64 percent of the countrys total vote in the election as the president elect of the government of the Islamic Republic of afghanistan. The incumbent is naturally celebrating. The matter. But im dedicating this victory of the people to the people and as the 1st servants with our united seem we will always safeguard the rights of the Afghan People but although the decision puts months of electoral uncertainty to rest it opens a new chapter of danger just like when gandhi was ruled the winner in 2014 his main rival Abdullah Abdullah is calling the result illegitimate thats. The result they announced today was the result of election law a coup against democracy the betrayal of the will of the people and we considered it to be illegal. In 2014 the u. S. Brokered a power sharing agreement with garni president and of diller chief executive. This time around the u. S. Is doing deals with the taliban there near an agreement in doha which could be announced soon if an initial reduction in violence is successfully observed the u. S. Wants to bring its troops home. With the taliban also says gone these reelection is illegal and contravenes the Peace Process will reach alans aljazeera. Yemen now and the Un Security Council has been warned of a marked increase in violence after reports of hundreds of civilian casualties a special envoy says peace efforts are at risk of collapsing mike hanna reports from the u. N. In new york these regular briefings on yemen have for months been marked by an air of optimism but this was not the case on the stay the special envoy to yemen has told the u. N. Security council that the upsurge in violence could reverse the gains made in peace efforts over the past year and warns there are signs the conflict is spreading during the past month which we last met the military situation has grown increasingly dire both sides have announced expensive military goals and exchanged fierce rhetoric most of the heavy fighting is taking place in the home district of the governor of sanaa and also of marble and saddam government front lines which had. We inquired after several months of being drawn into the escalation of the truths that had been observed in al jawf for months was shattered this past weekend by saudi led ai